Day 2 of #4C17 . . .

Yesterday was a great day. Linda's keynote was wonderful. She reminded me of a great web site for teaching writing, Spurious Correlations. And she offered a great term that I'll use, Educational Intelligence Complex (EIC).

I got a chance to sit down for lunch with Victor. He and I are very similar in temperament, so every time we sit down, we have a great time. And we can't stop laughing and kidding. I am so lucky to have had him as my mentor. I can remember the first time I ever talked to him. It was a phone call to ask about the program at WSU. This was when I was deciding what PhD program to go to. Within 10 minutes of our 30 minute conversation, I knew that he was the man I needed to work with. He would show me how to do this thing, and I was right. He was and he has. I'm deeply and wonderfully indebted to Victor.

I was a respondent in B.08, a panel on socially just pedagogy done by three wonderful, young scholar-teachers, Carolyn Salazar Nunez, Danielle Bacigalupo, and Raquel Corona. It was a packed ballroom, and Carolyn, Danielle, and Raquel did a great job. I know, their students benefit so much from their thoughtful work. I was so honored to respond to their work that came out of my book. And of course, my dear friend, LuMing Mao was our chair, and he was his usual kind and warm self.

My own session, E.08 on the political economy of composition and the writing classroom, was equally packed. Bruce Horner and Tony Scott were my fellow panelists. There were some really smart questions too, one I'll be thinking about for a while had to do with how we might account for surplus value (something I didn't account for in my initial thinking of value and worth circulated in the classroom). Another had to do with loss in the cycle of production. Great questions.

The day ended with having a nice dinner with Bob Broad, his wife Julie, and their son, Dylan. I always love spending time with Bob. He is such a deeply thoughtful, kind, and thoroughly enjoyable man, the kind of man I still strive to be like. Our dinner was in a nice restaurant called The Noble Rot. Don't ask what that means or refers to. I don't know. I do know that the company was the best part of a very enjoyable meal. On our way out, we also bumped into Peter Elbow, who is still chugging along. Who doesn't love Peter?

Peace.